Hi Everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a really long time. Let me get you all caught up.
Our home study was officially completed the last week on June. We are now officially in the waiting process. Honestly, I have good days and bad days when it comes to my patience level. During the school year it is a lot easier to not focus on the waiting and just enjoy life; however, the holidays are really tough. The holidays this year were no exception! In all honesty, I think this year was the worst because we are justing waiting. There is not much that we can do. The waiting can be almost unbearable some days! However, I do know (even on the bad days) that our time is coming and that God knows the exact moment we will hold our precious baby. So, as it stands today, we have been waiting for 6.5 months and we are praying that 2015 will be the year we become parents.
A positive note in our lives: we have been blessed with the opportunity of hosting an exchange student this school year. Her name is Louise and she is an 18 year old from Belgium. This girl has seriously been such a blessing! Michael and I, and honestly anyone who has met her, have fallen in love with her. She is kind, yet honest. She is beautiful, yet humble. She is outgoing, yet loves her alone time. She is overall an amazing person! I am so glad that we were able to meet her and that she has become a part of our family. Having her here has definitely helped us during the waiting. I all ready dread her having to leave! Hopefully one day we will be able to visit her in Belgium and/or she will come back here to visit.
Now, this is just something that I have to get off my chest. It seems like at least once a week, usually more, I see a new article on Facebook about a baby being abandoned or killed by its parent(s). This is absolutely sickening to begin with, but for any couple who is dealing with infertility whether they are adopting or going through treatments, it is a punch in the gut. We want nothing more than to take in every single one of the abandoned babies. However, our system is so messed up that even though there are numerous families who would be willing to give them a stable home, the babies are put into the foster care system and will likely not be officially adopted until 2-3 years down the road. I just don't understand why a waiting family cannot automatically adopt these poor babies so that they are not put through the issues of growing up in foster care and being fearful of being taken away from the only family they have ever known. It simply makes no sense!
Sorry for this post being all over the place! Thank you for always encouraging us and praying for us and our future child. Please keep us in mind if you hear of anyone who is seriously considering adoption for their unborn child. This is not specific to family and friends in Alabama. We have an adoption lawyer who can work with other states as well. Our agency is run by a lawyer, so therefore we can be on their waiting list AND look into private adoption if the opportunity arises. I will try my best to update with any other news, but right now there just isn't much happening.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Friday, May 30, 2014
The Last Step
I'm writing today with some very exciting news! We have just scheduled our home study interviews which is the last step!
Since I finished school for the year last Friday, I have been working on getting all the paperwork finished up and turned in. We turned in the very last of it yesterday. Bekah, our adoption "consultant" (at least that's what I call her), put all of our file together and sent it to our new social worker who will conduct the interviews and help us through the remainder of the process along with Family Adoption Services.
The social worker, Edie (yes, it's a woman...long e at the beginning), contacted me today to set up our interviews. After having done this all before with the foster care process, we know what to expect of the interviews. We set them up for June 12th at 10:30. She said it should take about 2 hours which is a lot shorter than the foster care interviews took. This is due to the 4 page autobiography we had to turn in. There aren't many questions left to ask that we didn't answer in that document.
Once this part is complete, they will finish the home study write up and we will become legally able to adopt a child. Then comes the hard part in this whole process.....waiting. Once our home study is complete it is simply a matter of waiting to be chosen by a birth mother.
This is all becoming very real! I'm really hoping that we will be one of those lucky couples that doesn't have to wait a long time for their baby, but I know that God will bring us OUR child in HIS timing. Please continue to pray for us, Family Adoption Services, the birth mother, and the baby. We cannot wait until the day we can post pictures of our baby!
Since I finished school for the year last Friday, I have been working on getting all the paperwork finished up and turned in. We turned in the very last of it yesterday. Bekah, our adoption "consultant" (at least that's what I call her), put all of our file together and sent it to our new social worker who will conduct the interviews and help us through the remainder of the process along with Family Adoption Services.
The social worker, Edie (yes, it's a woman...long e at the beginning), contacted me today to set up our interviews. After having done this all before with the foster care process, we know what to expect of the interviews. We set them up for June 12th at 10:30. She said it should take about 2 hours which is a lot shorter than the foster care interviews took. This is due to the 4 page autobiography we had to turn in. There aren't many questions left to ask that we didn't answer in that document.
Once this part is complete, they will finish the home study write up and we will become legally able to adopt a child. Then comes the hard part in this whole process.....waiting. Once our home study is complete it is simply a matter of waiting to be chosen by a birth mother.
This is all becoming very real! I'm really hoping that we will be one of those lucky couples that doesn't have to wait a long time for their baby, but I know that God will bring us OUR child in HIS timing. Please continue to pray for us, Family Adoption Services, the birth mother, and the baby. We cannot wait until the day we can post pictures of our baby!
Sunday, May 4, 2014
One simple letter
I just finished writing our birth mother letter. I sent it to both sets of parents for them to look over it. Both sets said the letter sounded great. I'm so glad to have it done because this one letter could literally change our lives forever!
Honestly, while I was writing the letter I was simply focusing on making sure I included enough information while at the same time not giving too much personal information. Now that I'm done with the letter and have Michael's and our parents' approvals, it is really sinking in that this is all that a birth mother will have to decide if we are the family for her child. Wow! Two pages of information is all she gets. This will be the biggest decision of her life. This is a decision that will change all of our lives forever....and it's based off a two page letter.
I have so much respect for these birth mothers. Can you imagine being pregnant and scared? You make the choice to give your child the life that you can't give them by allowing your child to be adopted. Then, the agency gives you five letters from couples that match or closely match the characteristics you have asked for in an adoptive family. You then have two pages of information about this couple to decide if this is a family you can see raising your child. I don't know if I could do it!
Please continue to pray for us in this process as we come to the end of the home study and enter into the waiting period. Especially pray for the birth mother. Pray that she will be strong, that God will give her a sense of peace, that she will have a healthy pregnancy. Pray for the baby, that he/she might grow healthy and strong, pray that the delivery will go smoothly.
Keep in mind with our agency, we will not know we are matched with a baby until he/she is born and is 5 days old. They wait 5 days to call us because after 5 days, the birth mother must go to court to gain custody of the baby back. Therefore, once we get a call we will be able to immediately go get our baby. All of the pregnancy and delivery will have passed so that is why I ask for you to go ahead and pray for these things every time you think to pray for us and our child.
Thank you for your love, support, encouragement, and prayers!
Honestly, while I was writing the letter I was simply focusing on making sure I included enough information while at the same time not giving too much personal information. Now that I'm done with the letter and have Michael's and our parents' approvals, it is really sinking in that this is all that a birth mother will have to decide if we are the family for her child. Wow! Two pages of information is all she gets. This will be the biggest decision of her life. This is a decision that will change all of our lives forever....and it's based off a two page letter.
I have so much respect for these birth mothers. Can you imagine being pregnant and scared? You make the choice to give your child the life that you can't give them by allowing your child to be adopted. Then, the agency gives you five letters from couples that match or closely match the characteristics you have asked for in an adoptive family. You then have two pages of information about this couple to decide if this is a family you can see raising your child. I don't know if I could do it!
Please continue to pray for us in this process as we come to the end of the home study and enter into the waiting period. Especially pray for the birth mother. Pray that she will be strong, that God will give her a sense of peace, that she will have a healthy pregnancy. Pray for the baby, that he/she might grow healthy and strong, pray that the delivery will go smoothly.
Keep in mind with our agency, we will not know we are matched with a baby until he/she is born and is 5 days old. They wait 5 days to call us because after 5 days, the birth mother must go to court to gain custody of the baby back. Therefore, once we get a call we will be able to immediately go get our baby. All of the pregnancy and delivery will have passed so that is why I ask for you to go ahead and pray for these things every time you think to pray for us and our child.
Thank you for your love, support, encouragement, and prayers!
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
The light at the end of the tunnel
Hello everyone! I know it has been a while since I posted a new blog, but there hasn't been too much going on lately.
Here is where we are right now: we have turned in almost all of our paperwork. The only paperwork left to turn in is our financial report and Michael's physical form. He is going to get his physical done next week and we will finish the financial report by then to turn it in as well.
The few other things we have to do is go to a parenting class, write our birth mother letter, and then we will set up our interviews with a social worker.
We have a newborn care class that we are going to on May 13th that is done by Baptist East.
The birth mother letter is what the agency will give to the birth mother to chose a family for their child. Therefore, this letter is extremely important! This letter is all the birth mother will have to get to know us before deciding to give us her child. Wow! Now that I REALLY think about it, it is really scary to write this letter. I trust that God will guide us in writing this letter that will touch the heart of our child's birth mother.
Once we turn in all our paperwork, hopefully by the end of next week, we will be assigned a social worker who will come to our home to conduct three interviews. I'm not worried about this part because I figure it will not be very different from the ones we did for foster care. We will have to travel to Birmingham, where the agency is located, one more time to meet a few other people who will be an important part of our adoption. Once this is completed, we start the waiting process!
We have actually already been placed on the waiting list with the agency to hopefully reduce our wait time, but we will not actually be able to really be considered by a birth mother until we finish the whole process. Either way, we are definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
Please continue to pray for us as we finish the home study, the birth mother who will carry our child, and our future child. We can't wait to share more of our journey with you all. Thank you for all your love, encouragement, and prayers.
Here is where we are right now: we have turned in almost all of our paperwork. The only paperwork left to turn in is our financial report and Michael's physical form. He is going to get his physical done next week and we will finish the financial report by then to turn it in as well.
The few other things we have to do is go to a parenting class, write our birth mother letter, and then we will set up our interviews with a social worker.
We have a newborn care class that we are going to on May 13th that is done by Baptist East.
The birth mother letter is what the agency will give to the birth mother to chose a family for their child. Therefore, this letter is extremely important! This letter is all the birth mother will have to get to know us before deciding to give us her child. Wow! Now that I REALLY think about it, it is really scary to write this letter. I trust that God will guide us in writing this letter that will touch the heart of our child's birth mother.
Once we turn in all our paperwork, hopefully by the end of next week, we will be assigned a social worker who will come to our home to conduct three interviews. I'm not worried about this part because I figure it will not be very different from the ones we did for foster care. We will have to travel to Birmingham, where the agency is located, one more time to meet a few other people who will be an important part of our adoption. Once this is completed, we start the waiting process!
We have actually already been placed on the waiting list with the agency to hopefully reduce our wait time, but we will not actually be able to really be considered by a birth mother until we finish the whole process. Either way, we are definitely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
Please continue to pray for us as we finish the home study, the birth mother who will carry our child, and our future child. We can't wait to share more of our journey with you all. Thank you for all your love, encouragement, and prayers.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Ups and downs
I haven't written in a while, so I figured I would write to catch everyone up on what has been going on with the process.
The good news is we only have a handful of forms left to turn in before we can start our interviews. I went last week to have my physical done and will have the medical form sent off this week. I called today to get our CPR certificates sent to us. We also registered for our parenting class we have to take. Michael has to get his physical done and fill out the financial report.
Now, the not so great news...we went to do our taxes tonight because we also have to send in our reports from the past two years. Well, we knew that we would most likely owe the IRS, but we were not really prepared for how much we do owe. We have already been struggling with saving money each month because of the added expense of family insurance which we had to get for adoption as well. So, now we owe the IRS and will definitely not be saving any money this month and probably not next month either.
It is pretty disheartening because we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but then you feel like you get knocked back on your butt. I know that we will figure things out and that everything is in God's timing; it's just a a matter of learning to trust in every situation. I'm definitely learning a lot through this process.
I will keep y'all updated once we move into the interview process. As always, we truly appreciate all your encouragement, prayers, and support.
Friday, January 24, 2014
What a Day!
Ok, so this post doesn't really have anything to do with adoption, but I just had to share my day with y'all.
Let me start by saying that yesterday was ROUGH! It was just one of those days where every tiny thing gets on your nerves. I know we've all had those days. So, I went to bed early last night determined to have a better day Friday.
I woke up this morning feel great and rested after getting 8 full hours of sleep. So, I put my Christian music on for the ride to school which was great. Right before turning into the school I saw a rainbow! What?! How was there even a rainbow in the sky this morning? It was awesome and just gave me more hope that today would be an awesome day.
I get to school and my sweet students ask if we are having chapel. We usually have it on Fridays at least twice a month. We weren't having it today, so the kids asked if we could have our own. Well, of course we can! So, I asked some of the kids to give me the name of their favorite worship songs. We had a short devotion and then we sang the songs. Man, there is just something truly amazing about hearing children sing praises to God! As if that didn't melt my heart enough, we were singing our last song "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" when I look around the room in time to see one of my precious babies with her hand in the air with no shame full on worshipping! Talk about giving you chills and about making me cry! What a fantastic way to start the day! And you know it's good when 10-11 year olds tell you that they could truly feel the Spirit in the room. Now, the kids want the singing to become a daily part of our devotions. What a blessing to work in a school where we can worship our Lord! Also, what a blessing that children are asking to have longer, more in depth, and worshipful devotions each day. Needless to say, we had a pretty great day.
Let me start by saying that yesterday was ROUGH! It was just one of those days where every tiny thing gets on your nerves. I know we've all had those days. So, I went to bed early last night determined to have a better day Friday.
I woke up this morning feel great and rested after getting 8 full hours of sleep. So, I put my Christian music on for the ride to school which was great. Right before turning into the school I saw a rainbow! What?! How was there even a rainbow in the sky this morning? It was awesome and just gave me more hope that today would be an awesome day.
I get to school and my sweet students ask if we are having chapel. We usually have it on Fridays at least twice a month. We weren't having it today, so the kids asked if we could have our own. Well, of course we can! So, I asked some of the kids to give me the name of their favorite worship songs. We had a short devotion and then we sang the songs. Man, there is just something truly amazing about hearing children sing praises to God! As if that didn't melt my heart enough, we were singing our last song "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" when I look around the room in time to see one of my precious babies with her hand in the air with no shame full on worshipping! Talk about giving you chills and about making me cry! What a fantastic way to start the day! And you know it's good when 10-11 year olds tell you that they could truly feel the Spirit in the room. Now, the kids want the singing to become a daily part of our devotions. What a blessing to work in a school where we can worship our Lord! Also, what a blessing that children are asking to have longer, more in depth, and worshipful devotions each day. Needless to say, we had a pretty great day.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Christmas Blessings
The past two weeks have brought about several blessings.
First, we have finally gotten our family insurance. Yay! Now, we can finish up the financial report and get our physicals done.
With that done, we should be able to get all our paperwork completed and turned in by January. Then, we can do our home study in February and hopefully go on the waiting list by March!
Second, we are starting to get some of the baby bottles back that we gave out for fundraising. I have really enjoyed counting all the change. I know that may sound kind of crazy to go through and count the change myself, but I really like being able to see how much money is in each bottle.
Third, we received amazing blessings from my school. Five elementary classes, mine included, all brought in money to go towards the adoption. Talk about selfless children! It made my day to see how excited they were to give to me, even when giving to us meant not giving gifts to each other! These sweet children will never know how much it means to us! Overall, they raised $675! I will never be able to thank these families enough. Many of the children have not had me as a teacher yet, which means their parents do not know me very well either, yet they were still willing to help us in our journey to become parents.
Along with the money, I received notes from four of my students. They were such sweet notes about how they couldn't wait to meet the baby one day and that I will be a good mom. One of them, however, was not written for me....it was written for our future child. It was such a sweet note. It made me cry! I can't wait to put all of these notes and cards in a book to show our child how many people were so excited to help us become his or her parents.
Overall, our family and friends have donated $995! Wow!
Thank you so much for the continued love, support, and prayers.
I want to leave you with a video of a song that helps me remember to worship and thank God everyday during our wait.
http://youtu.be/i6X71sXagUY
First, we have finally gotten our family insurance. Yay! Now, we can finish up the financial report and get our physicals done.
With that done, we should be able to get all our paperwork completed and turned in by January. Then, we can do our home study in February and hopefully go on the waiting list by March!
Second, we are starting to get some of the baby bottles back that we gave out for fundraising. I have really enjoyed counting all the change. I know that may sound kind of crazy to go through and count the change myself, but I really like being able to see how much money is in each bottle.
Third, we received amazing blessings from my school. Five elementary classes, mine included, all brought in money to go towards the adoption. Talk about selfless children! It made my day to see how excited they were to give to me, even when giving to us meant not giving gifts to each other! These sweet children will never know how much it means to us! Overall, they raised $675! I will never be able to thank these families enough. Many of the children have not had me as a teacher yet, which means their parents do not know me very well either, yet they were still willing to help us in our journey to become parents.
Along with the money, I received notes from four of my students. They were such sweet notes about how they couldn't wait to meet the baby one day and that I will be a good mom. One of them, however, was not written for me....it was written for our future child. It was such a sweet note. It made me cry! I can't wait to put all of these notes and cards in a book to show our child how many people were so excited to help us become his or her parents.
Overall, our family and friends have donated $995! Wow!
Thank you so much for the continued love, support, and prayers.
I want to leave you with a video of a song that helps me remember to worship and thank God everyday during our wait.
http://youtu.be/i6X71sXagUY
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